Our culture marks January 5th as the night when the Three Wise Men arrive home and, at the foot of the Christmas tree or the Nativity scene, deposit the gifts that we will enjoy from the morning of January 6th, the date on which we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, that is, the presence of the Child Jesus before the three monarchs and the world.
This is how the commemoration of generosity on Three Kings Day was born, for which I propose to our readers four experiences that connect me with special gifts, such as the content of two albums and two books that explore the cultural and social significance of flamenco.
Beginning with Utrera Flamenco Great, the compact car that Argentina has edited to stimulate its repertoire while offering the variety of musical content from the blessed land of the very illustrious Fernanda and Bernarda, To over Pinini, La Serneta, Perrate, Kids, Enrique Montoya, Gaspar de Utrera o Pepa de UtreraAmong the many voices whose rhythms and volume reach us with hints of great drive and energy.
This recording, made live on May 14th at Fetén in Utrera, the family's art house DrinkingIt includes, among others, rumba, bulerías, tangos, cantiñas, cuplés, soleares or tientos, up to a total of eleven themes that appear with flexibility in the accents sometimes intentional, but without overlapping, and emerge with dedication and commitment, with an elegant, resonant and expressive phrasing, with stylistic appropriateness and without the tendency towards pomposity surfacing.
Following the grooves of the record, we find the debut of Noriko Martin, the first flamenco singer of flamenco which he performs entirely in Japanese without burning himself alive, because in Beyond the Flames The language does not prevent him from regulating the sound or reducing the energy of the interpretation, even though the feeling of emptiness hinders the effective transition from the most energetic to the delicate.
Noriko seems comfortable vocally, with a good melody, and hers is an example of sensitivity, mastery of phrasing and half-voices, although the lack of soul –understand depth– prevents her from achieving greater heights that, in the end, would have allowed her a greater diversity of colors and a deeper expression of alegrías, tangos, seguiriya, soleá para escuchar, vidalita, alboreá, tangos de Granada or sevillanas.
There are, of course, other ways to show affection or consideration to family and friends on Three Kings Day, as suggested Hummingbird Editions, which from the publishing industry is committed to the dissemination of knowledge and culture through books that bring us back to reading as a consumption habit through personalized experiences.
"With Three Kings' Day approaching, it's advisable to return to the cantes from Utrera from the message from Argentina and open the door of cante without a key to Noriko Martín, in addition to dedicating a calm and patient reading to the essayists José Cenizo Jiménez and Manuel Bohórquez Casado»
For example. Poet flamencoHow to make letters for the cante, Jose Cenizo JimenezIt is a printed work that places us before the lyricism of a dozen canteThe aim is to serve as a guide for beginner poets, but also to increase public appreciation for traditional poetry, making the suggestions highly commendable.
And they are plausible, moreover, because weak flamenco verses do a disservice to the rich legacy of the great traditional poets, who are not defined by obvious statements and forced rhymes, but are characterized by precision, depth, and a masterful command of language. jondo.
This publication, therefore, gains full strength and poetic meaning, as it proposes lyrics with expressive and emotional contrasts, even with visual metaphors, and guides readers so that weaknesses such as forced rhymes or poorly constructed verses are not identified.
Under José Cenizo's guidance, we are confident that new poets will disregard the patterns of weak construction and empty verses; nor will they dwell on the notion that water is wet, evidence that is not only unnecessary but borders on the absurd. Rather, they will fulfill the process of growth in the structural integrity of flamencowhich demands that the poems be worked on with a more emotional character, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to continue deepening the construction of images and synesthesias with great lyrical power.
The second volume of Colibrí Ediciones owes its authorship to Manuel Bohorquez Casado, formerly responsible for content at ExpoFlamenco, who opens the way for us to Silverio. The Italian's son., a fictionalized biography that, as its name indicates, harmonizes real events in the life of such a celebrated singer (sic) considered as “the most important historical figure in art flamenco”, with elements of inventiveness, thus forging a narrative genre that studies his life in a more artistic and literary way.
As the reader knows, the fictionalized biography is a booming genre in Spanish literature that, in this case, desacralizes the canonical biography of the author himself, but recreates real life without straying from the truth, thus highlighting significant aspects that are more addictive and therefore invite the reader to read it as if it were a novel.
From this captivating literary genre, Bohórquez Casado brings us closer in an engaging and entertaining way to the one who gave new meaning to flamenco, to the artist who opened the door of modernity to the genre and is therefore an essential figure, as the writer notes while traversing the outlandish history of such a fascinating character, but from the rigor of the data, with immemorial adventures and even with exuberances, such as penetrating the repertoire of a typological work complex to demonstrate, given that we do not have personal phonographic records that justify the sound testimonies.
Nevertheless, with Three Kings' Day approaching, it's advisable to return to the cantes from Utrera from the message from Argentina and open the door of cante Without a key to Noriko Martín, in addition to dedicating a calm and patient reading to the essayists José Cenizo Jiménez and Manuel Bohórquez Casado. Only for the purpose of To remember what is at risk and to find the keys to sustain a universal heritage that, like a whirlwind, in 2026 will continue to traverse the sky of ideas to touch down and change our way of seeing the world. ♦
